Interlude 1

The Tiger and the Pony

When Applejack came to after the fight with Discord, she had found herself in the loneliest of places: an open field. Her only companion was a lazy little stream; it was the babbling of its waters that had snapped the disoriented pony back to her senses.

Applejack had immediately thanked her lucky stars for letting her land in such a perfect spot. Sweet Apple Acres had always made use of the rivers near Ponyville when it needed water, and if this land she found herself in had farmers she figured they would be no different. All she had to do was follow the length of the stream and she'd eventually find somepony who could help her. In the meantime, the water would provide all she needed in terms of drink, and, though it certainly wouldn't be as tasty as apples, the grass around her looked graze-worthy.

When night came after a long day of following the brook's windings, Applejack learned that food and drink wouldn't be the most important of her problems. She had just settled in for the night on a comfortable patch of ground when the howling started. It sure sounded like wolves to her, but at a time and in a place like this she couldn't be sure. All she could tell was that the critters, whatever they were, were ornery and that there were a lot of them. In the dwindling light, every shadow looked like it could hold a threat. Applejack tried to shut her eyes and force the sounds out of her head, but sleep refused to come. Still the howling pressed down on her from all sides. Exhaustedly, Applejack pulled herself back up on her hooves and braced herself for anything that might come. She walked slowly in a circle, looking carefully in every direction for signs of an attack. It sure wasn't how she had wanted to spend her night…but in a strange place like this, a pony couldn't take any chances.

Days passed, each one the same as the last. When the sun peeked over the horizon, Applejack followed the stream in the desperate hope of finding something – anything – that would prove that she wasn't alone, that there was some place out there where she could finally end her journey. When the moon rose, the howling would start, and the evening would pass in an endless parade of twitchings at the merest snap of a twig. Sometimes, Applejack wished that the beasts, whatever they were, would just leap out at her and end her ceaseless watch. But the assault never came. As sleepless nights came and went, Applejack grew wearier. Even with ample water and ample grass, she found that she barely had the strength to move. Sometimes she fell asleep as she walked alongside the brook, but her sleep was always fitful. When she woke up, she always cursed herself for her lollygagging and pressed on. The nights were too dark and full of unknown horrors for her to walk through; the only hope for survival she could see was to move forward as far as she could each day.

Her body was not as strong as her will. She collapsed the same day that she heard the rustling in the thick brush that surrounded her. With her last ounce of energy, she looked out at the sun that had just begun to set and sighed. It was the end, she guessed; the wolves had finally caught her with her guard down. At least her luck had held out in one way, though; she wouldn't be conscious when their jaws started tearing into her flesh. She closed her eyes and let herself faint away into the final darkness.

Applejack was surprised when she woke up. She was even more surprised at the sight of the creature standing over the bed she lay in. A mane of white hair topped his head and, aside from a patch of black stubble that circled his mouth, his whole face was covered with nothing but skin. The wrinkles told Applejack that he was probably in the middle years of his life, but the broad excitement of youth seemed to sparkle still behind his eyes.

All these surprises gave way to an even more shocking realization: she was in a bed, and a very soft one at that. She tried to sit up, but the figure looming over her smiled and raised a hand to stop her.

Applejack furrowed her brow. "And who in tarnation are you?" she asked confusedly.

Her question only brought forth a hearty laugh from her caretaker. "This is amazing!" he exclaimed cheerfully. "You don't just say words, you can actually talk!"

"Of course I can talk!" Applejack shot back reflexively. "What pony can't?"

"Well, every pony that I've ever met, to start with," declared the white-haired man.

The realization of what exactly had brought her here came rushing back to Applejack. "I'm…not from around these parts," she mumbled.

"I can see that," the man replied. He turned away and stroked his beard. "I don't believe it! When I saw you wandering through that field, I could tell you weren't like any animal I'd ever seen on a hunt before. And I suppose when I heard your voice carry over to me as you raved about…howling, was it?…I knew already that the heavens were preparing something strange for me. But now, to be talking to you as if you were just any guest at my home, instead of…

A thought struck Applejack. "You're the one who put me in this here bed?"

The man's face grew serious. "Yes. I…I wasn't quite sure what to do. I've hunted everything from wolves to bears to ferocious tigers, but I knew you were not a mindless beast. And to see you, thin as a sapling, with those bleary, hurting eyes…I am a man of honor, and a man of honor cannot harden his heart to suffering when there is something he can do to alleviate it.

"So…so you're the local doc or somethin', right?" she asked tentatively.

Her caretaker's eyes widened in surprise at her question, but were soon closed as he bent his head back and let loose a hearty laugh. "I'm no physician," he said bemusedly. "I'm just a simple officer of this prefecture."

"Well," said Applejack uncertainly, "you saved my hide back there. So thank you kindly."

"But please," the man shot back, "I must know what you are! Surely you cannot be a mere earthly pony?"

"That's exactly what I am. An earth pony!" Applejack declared triumphantly. Her questioner's face remained bewildered, and Applejack sighed sadly. "It's a real long story…"

"Well, you'll have plenty of time to tell it," the man said cheerfully.

"What do you mean by that?"

"Well, you aren't going to be going anywhere in the state you're in, are you?"

Applejack felt the exhaustion in her limbs, the knot of hunger in her stomach, the ache in her bones. "Look, it's mighty nice of you to let me bunk here, but I need to find my friends, so…" She started to get up, but the man held up his hand and gently sunk her back down into the softness of the cushion.

"You've got fire in you!" he chuckled. "That's good! But you won't be able to take care of your friends if you don't take care of yourself, right?"

Applejack was silent as she stared into his warm, vibrant eyes. The man turned towards the door.

"You just sleep as much as you want. I'll be back with some hay for you soon. You do eat hay, right?"

He had barely set foot in the hall when Applejack sat up one and called out after him. "My name's Applejack. What's yours, pardner?"

A shock of white hair popped back into the doorway. "Sun Jian," he said, beaming at her. He slipped back into the hallway and his footsteps echoed through the room.

Applejack snuggled up into a comfortable ball and closed her eyes.

For two weeks, Applejack was ill, but the Sun family saw to her recovery. Sometimes a serving girl would come and bring her hay and herbs that lowered her fever…but more often than not, Sun Jian himself personally delivered what she needed and asked her, with a smile, how she was feeling.

It was like a little ritual. Applejack would always protest to him that she was ready and rarin' to get out of bed, that she didn't need any of them fancy plants to get her back on her hooves…but he would just laugh and chide her gently for her stubbornness, staying by her side until she had taken the medicine and her meal both.

And she did take them. Anyone or anypony else would have found arguing with Applejack as useless as arguing with a brick wall…but Sun Jian seemed different to her. When he spoke in that warm, deep voice and looked at her with those tender eyes, she could almost hear the echo of his voice from so long ago pulsing faintly in the room.

"Take it easy now, Applejack," it pleaded, bright with laughter and love. "At this rate, you'll give your old man a heart attack—if you don't give yourself one first." "Celestia help me," it continued, teasingly, "what did I ever do to deserve such a stubborn daughter?"

And when she heard that echo behind Sun Jian's words, Applejack felt as weak as a little filly, powerless to refuse his charity.

By the second week, Applejack was strong enough to walk around, and that's when Sun Jian showed it to her. As a civil officer, it was one of his duty to organize and apportion the lands of the demesne, and after a little bit of haggling and finagling, he had managed to clear out a small plot, a simple farmhouse and a few fields, for her to stay at.

"You told me you wanted to get back to your farming before the season passed," Sun Jian said proudly. "Well, it's not much, but I hope you'll consider growing your crop here."

Applejack was overjoyed. Being sick wasn't something she was prepared for. But farming? Now THAT she knew! It was only a tiny field, but with her green hoof, she knew she could grow some things that would make the jaw of a city boy like Sun Jian drop right to the ground.

And so, Applejack settled down into her new home. She wasn't alone, however. Not only did Sun Jian continue to visit her, but his children did as well. Applejack loved the company, and she came to know them all very well.

Sun Ce, the eldest son, was easy to get along with. He was quick with a smile or a joke, and his enthusiasm was as boundless as it was contagious. When he talked, his whole body seemed to move with him, and when he moved, it was almost as if he was speaking the same simple, happy language that flowed so easily from his tongue. He was a man who knew how to have fun, and in that Applejack trusted him.

Sun Quan, his younger brother, was more reserved. He was friendly enough, but more often than not he would sit in a corner while his siblings chatted or played with Applejack, staring at them with a thoughtful look. When he spoke, it was in a quiet, unassuming voice, intelligent but a trifle…mournful. He was unfailingly polite…but all the same, Applejack didn't know what to make of a man who seemed as limp as Sunday laundry hanging out to dry.

His sister, Sun Shangxiang, was a much different matter. Like her brother Sun Ce, she seemed to keep a boundless wellspring of fire bottled up in her petite frame, but it was a fire that was fueled by a kind heart even as it was stoked by a competitive spirit. Of all the Sun children, Applejack got along best with Sun Shangxiang. Speaking with her, romping with her, sharing with her…it all felt so natural to the pony, and she knew why. There was no doubt about it; Sun Shangxiang was almost the spittin' human image of Rainbow Dash.

Rainbow Dash…

Though Applejack cherished the hours she spent with the Sun family and though the work on her little farm was restful in its own way, Applejack knew that sooner or later it was her responsibility to find out what had happened to her friends…for her sake, as much as for theirs. But the Sun family were her friends, too, and try as she might, she couldn't find it in her honest heart to leave them behind either. She bided her time, hoping that the day would come soon when she could begin her search again, not alone, but with her new companions by her side.

That day came sooner than she had expected. One day, Sun Jian came into town, not to visit her, but to present a call to arms to the people. Applejack didn't quite understand what he was fighting for…it sounded like it was something about people wearing ugly yellow hats, the kind of thing Rarity would get into a scrap over, but not her…but she knew what the call to arms meant. A chance to see more of this new world. A chance to see the people in it. A chance to find out where her friends had fled to…

Sun Jian was surprised when Applejack expressed her intention to enlist.

"This isn't your fight," he said, staring down at her from his white stallion, which certainly seemed much less majestic when it was confronted with a horse as lively as Applejack. "I can already see that this will be the battle that opens the door to a new age. I cannot ask a stranger to this place to risk her life for something so meaningless to her."

"I ain't no more of a stranger here than you are, after all that you did for me," Applejack shot back. "Besides, I owe you. You ain't gonna keep me in your debt forever, now are you?"

"Applejack…"

"Now are we just gonna stand here and cluck like a buncha layin' hens, or are we gonna get out there and teach them yellow hat guys a lesson?"

Sun Jian smiled.

"This moment was a long time coming. I know why you want to do this. I thank you for your aid, and in return I make you this promise:

We will find your friends."